The No. 1 seed Houston Cougars are through two rounds in the 2025 NCAA Tournament after eking out a thrilling 81-76 victory over the No. 8 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs of Mark Few on Saturday night at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.

That means Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars are headed to the Sweet 16 portion of this year's edition of March Madness while the Bulldogs pack their bags for a flight back to Spokane.

Despite the early tournament exit of Few and the Bulldogs, they garnered nothing but respect from Sampson.

"There's nobody I respect more than Mark Few and there's not a basketball program I respect more than Gonzaga," Sampson said during a postgame on-court interview (h/t Awful Announcing).

Even though Gonzaga was the lower seed in the matchup, Sampson was not one to underestimate a squad coached by Few, who has a ton of experience when it comes to deep runs in the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga had a nine-year run of consecutive Sweet 16 appearances until Houston broke that trend with an escape of a victory. 

The Bulldogs came to within a point of the Cougars following a pair of free throws by Gozaga's Khalif Battle with just 21 seconds left in regulation. But Houston managed to hold on, thanks to some clutch makes from the foul line from LJ Cryer and Milos Uzan. Cryer led the Cougars with 30 points on the strength of six made 3-pointers while J'Wan Roberts generated 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Houston will next face No. 4 seed Purdue Boilermakers on Friday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.